Deeplinks Blog posts about Anonymity

Just three months ago, we at EFF expressed our disappointment with Australia's two largest Internet service providers (ISPs), Telstra and Optus, for agreeing to implement a filtering scheme after a filtering bill from the Australian government failed to pass.

Canada is a popular destination for those who like to fish, but the Canadian government is attempting to spark what may be the country’s largest-ever fishing expedition into its citizens’ private online data.

Supporters of Canada’s “lawful access” legislation were foiled on September 20th when they were pressured to withdraw proposed warrantless digital surveillance measures from an omnibus crime bill. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, Canadian Justice officials say they are “committed to reintroducing” the bills. We must halt this assault on civil liberties in Canada.

Chilling Speech Through Violence

Update: A significant edit was made to the original piece on which this commentary is based. See * for additional information.

In a recent Washington Timeseditorial titled “Internet trolls, Anonymity and the First Amendment,” Gayle Falkenthal declared that “the time has come to limit the ability of people to remain anonymous” online.* She argued that any benefit to online pseudonyms has long since dissipated and anonymous commenters have polluted the Internet “with false accusations and name-calling attacks.” Newspapers, she wrote, should ban them entirely.

Today, Northern District of Texas District Court Judge David C. Godbey granted EFF's and Public Citizen's sanctions motion against Evan Stone, attorney for Mick Haig Productions, who improperly issued subpoenas to ISPs without court permission in order to obtain the identities of alleged file sharers. The court's blistering opinion speaks for itself, and should be read in full. The court includes a brief overview of its findings thusly: